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Terrine of Chicken and Ham
Finely chop half pound lean raw veal with half pound fresh fat pork and place in a mortar with two egg yolks, two tablespoons sherry, one teaspoon rum, half teaspoon salt, one saltspoon cayenne, saltspoon grated nutmeg and one saltspoon ground mixed allspice, thoroughly pound five minutes, then press through a sieve and keep on a plate. Tear off breast and legs from a two-pound tender chicken, then with a keen knife carefully bone the breast and legs. Season meat with half teaspoon salt, three saltspoon pepper and saltspoon grated nutmeg. Have three slices quarter-inch-thick cooked ham. Line the interior of an oval earthen cocotte terrine dish with thin slices larding pork. Arrange a layer of the preparation at bottom and sides of the terrine, quarter of an inch thick. Lay a slice of ham at bottom of the terrine, then spread a little force over ham, arrange a leg and breast of chicken on top, a little more force, another slice of ham, another layer of force, then the balance of the chicken; cover with a little more force, the last slice of ham, and finish to cover with the force. Place a bay leaf on top, cover with thin slices larding pork, pour over half gill sherry. Cover terrine, place in small braising pan, pour in hot water to half the height of the terrine in the pan, then set in oven one hour. Bring terrine to the oven door, remove cover, pour in two tablespoons brandy, re-cover, reset in oven and bake thirty minutes. Remove, place in a cool place, lay an oval-shaped board of same size as the terrine on top of the pate, place a pound weight on top and keep in such position until thoroughly cold. Lift up board, remove fat from top, pass a clean knife all around edges, so as to easily detach it. Turn it on a cold dish with a folded napkin, remove lard from top and all around. Cut into quarter-inch pieces four tablespoons jelly. Arrange jelly around the terrine. Place a thin slice truffle in centre of the terrine on top, arrange clean, dry leaves of lettuce around and serve.
A classic French pâté en terrine, written in professional shorthand: no oven temperature, no internal temperature, and a French-kitchen vocabulary that assumes you already know what a "force" is. Nothing here is unsafe, but the details need filling in.
- The hinge: weight it while it coolsThe pressing step is not decoration. A board and a one-pound weight left on the terrine until it is cold compresses the layers so the loaf slices cleanly instead of crumbling. Skip it and you have baked meatloaf, not a terrine.
- Saltspoons and gillsA saltspoon is about 1/4 teaspoon. A gill is half a cup, so half a gill of sherry is 1/4 cup. "Three saltspoon pepper" is roughly 3/4 teaspoon.
- "Force" and "larding pork"The force is the forcemeat: the pounded veal and fat pork mixture. Larding pork here means barding fat, thin sheets of firm back fat used to line the mould; a butcher will slice fatback for you, and thinly sliced unsmoked pork belly or wide strips of fresh side pork will serve.
- Oven and vesselThe recipe names no oven temperature; for a covered earthenware terrine in a water bath, a moderate oven of around 325F is a reasonable modern setting. The "cocotte terrine" is simply a lidded earthenware loaf mould, roughly 1 to 1.5 quarts for these quantities; a lidded enamelled cast-iron loaf pan works, and foil sealed tightly under a lid will do for the cover.
- Cook to temperature, not the clockThe stated hour plus thirty minutes is a fair guide for a 1.5-quart terrine, but the mixture contains raw pork, veal and chicken. Take it to at least 160F at the centre, and 165F if you want the margin usually advised for mixtures containing poultry. Keep the water bath topped up with hot water so it never falls much below the halfway mark.
- The mortar stepPounding for five minutes and passing through a sieve gives a fine, emulsified force. A food processor reaches the same place in under a minute; keep the meat and fat very cold so the fat does not break, and pulse rather than run it to a paste.
- The jelly and the truffleThe "jelly" is aspic — chilled, set meat stock, chopped into cubes and scattered round the loaf. Truffle is optional garnish rather than structure; a slice of black olive or nothing at all does no harm to the dish.
- Rest before serving, and yieldTerrines improve after two or three days in the refrigerator, where the seasoning settles and the texture firms. Wrapped, it keeps about five days. This quantity gives ten to twelve slices as a first course or cold-table dish.
The word terrine names the pot, not the food: from French terre, earth, meaning the lidded earthenware mould in which such loaves were baked and then served. That distinction survives in professional usage, where a pâté baked and kept in its dish is a terrine while one wrapped in pastry is pâté en croûte. Everything about this version marks it as restaurant charcuterie rather than home cooking: a veal-and-pork forcemeat pounded smooth and sieved, a chicken broken down for its breast and legs alone, cooked ham for the interior layers, brandy added partway through baking so it does not cook off, and a finish of chopped aspic and sliced truffle. The International Cook Book is generally attributed to Alexander Filippini, long associated with Delmonico's in New York, and the book's purpose was to bring the repertoire of the great hotel and restaurant kitchens within reach of an American household — which is why a dish requiring a mortar, a barding-fat-lined mould, a water bath and two days' patience sits here beside far simpler fare.